Friday, December 12, 2008

That's the new chest freezer over there, under the tablecloth and cake plate.I wasn't going to try to gussy it up, but there was this increasingly nagging whine coming from the linen closet. Cranky had spirited away a little sackful of family heirloom linens after his parents died. I remembered most of them being doily-size; not much bigger. A regular table-size tablecloth would drown the freezer; I wasn't even looking for one.But there was this persistent drone. So I investigated.Wow. A little, perfectly petite square, hand embroidered. Plain white. Just the right size for a children's tea party.Or the new chest freezer.

When you first mentioned you were placing the freezer in the dining room, I thought: my mother would simply faint if I did that, but somehow it would be less of a sin in her eyes if there were a linen or lace cloth atop it.

I don't know what advice she'd give about the wire storage unit though!

You know, I never thought of that Hitchcock story until Chilebrown posted it here. Now I can't get it out of my mind. But I'm trying to focus on how lovely the table cloth looks with the simple but elegant vase on it, topped by fruit. Simple elegance without a whiff of the macabre about it At ALL!

Odd-sized table cloths are wonderful. My husband built a kitchen table for me, the dimensions of which defy linen-sizing but I found two embroidered, obviously European-made square cloths that fit j-u-s-t to the edges. Sort of cardtable-size. Yours is much more elegant (mine be rustic)...The light is beautiful on your (cold) still life.

That's forking adorable! I like that you have something easily liftable. My biggest pet peeve is when people decorate their freezers by placing difficult-to-move obstacles on top. I'm rarely willing to work that hard for frozen food.

Kudzu: It is now my most perfect photo shelf, all surrounded by glowing white.

Spiteful: The dining room table is right where I'm standing with the camera, so it's really easy to whip off the cake plate and the tablecloth, and flop them on the table. Then, back on they go. It is cute.

Anna: OK, but if you put your freezer in the garage, don't drape it with an oily old tarp!!

I read your blog faithfully and it adds to my life. I've gotten lots of ideas of things to pull together from my fridge and pantry from your posts for delicious snacks and lunches and am thankful.

Have you ever heard of pomanders? I used to use oranges and lemons to decorate but got sick or them getting moldy too.

To make a pomander you just take citrus fruit and make holes in them then put whole cloves into the holes. You put them into a ziplock bag with oris root and spices (cinnamon, allspice etc) and shake. Let them dry out to preserve them.

They look pretty and they make your house smell gorgeous and they last for years.

Our place is too small for a freezer but I wish you fun filling it with projects!

Sunshine: How nice to hear from you! Thank you for the sweet remarks.Yes, I've heard of pomanders, but had honestly forgotten. Thanks for the decorating (and aromatic) idea. I've got a whole treeful of oranges ripening!

Who She?

I live a couple of miles from the Marin County Civic Center Farmers' Market, which feeds my little blogging hobby. Hell, it feeds me, too.
Formerly employed, I'm now a bum. Happy bum. Tomato ranchin' bum.
But I'm still mad.